Love Connection by Camilla Isley (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

Have you ever wondered what might have been?Gemma Dawson is at the airport, staring at two plane tickets to two different cities. Two different weddings. Two possible futures. She’s at a crossroads.Be maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding or crash her ex’s?Gemma’s decision, unknown to her, hinges on a delayed flight and a chance meeting. Now her life is about to go down two parallel tracks—will Gemma fly toward a life with her first love or a future with a man she’s not even met yet?

Love Connection is a feel good Romantic Comedy about one woman, life’s infinite possibilities, and the destiny that lies beyond two different choices.

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[Release Date: 8 October 2016 -- Advanced copy provided by author]

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RAMBLE BELOW

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STOP NOW IF YOU'RE ONLY

HERE FOR THE TEASING

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Funny. Heartbreaking. Hopeful. Different. <-- Those four words are the first four that spring to mind when thinking about how to describe Camilla Isley's Love Connection.

The book begins with the main character, Gemma, debating which of her two airplane tickets to use -- the one for her best friend's wedding where she's to be the maid of honor ... or her ex-boyfriend's wedding in order to try and stop it even though they haven't spoken in three years.

What follows is a lot like the 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow/John Hannah movie Sliding Doors with each chapter covering the alternating "what-ifs." (And now I take a minute to swoon privately over John Hannah and how underutilized he has been in the role of romantic lead ..... ) The big difference is that in Sliding Doors you pretty much always knew which reality would be the best one for Paltrow's Helen .... while in Love Connection every few chapters I found myself flip-flopping between which one I preferred!

I was a bit worried at first that the format would confuse me and that I would get all discombobulated with the changes, but as it turns out there was nothing to worry about. It's so well laid out and plotted that I never wondered which flight she had taken.

Through it all -- regardless of flight -- the greatest highlight of the book for me was the friendship between Gemma and Amelia. Moving around as much as I did growing up I never really got those lifelong do-anything-for-you-no-matter-what friendships. It's been lovely living vicariously through Gemma and Amelia. Sure, there are friends from over the years that I still keep in touch with thanks to Facebook and whatnot ... but the bond that these two have is the stuff friendship dreams are made of. They're so flipping good for each other -- especially when the men in their respective lives may not be and especially when I want to slap Gemma (which happens with both flight paths but one more than the other as time went on).

All in all, a lovely story and while it's the first I've read of Isley's it certainly won't be the last!